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PLAY 05 - Identify Existing Capabilities and Gaps

Defining Information Sharing and Safeguarding (IS&S) Environment capabilities shouldn’t be confusing or daunting – capabilities should be simple and intuitive with the goal of enabling users to support their mission and overcome obstacles. Technical capabilities identified, if already developed/implemented by other communities, should be evaluated and reused when applicable. Where possible, leverage existing investments with proven track records of success and documented lessons learned in developing the IS&S Environment’s capabilities.

Desired Outcome: Governance body agrees on the determination of technology and human resources and processes that must be developed in order to succeed in implementing an IS&S Environment.

Play Checklist

1. Identify role-based user requirements for the IS&S Environment that are more specific to the user experience than the business requirements identified in an earlier play.

2. Identify the existing systems and technologies that can be used in the creation of an IS&S Environment.

3. Identify the additional technology resources and capabilities necessary based on collected business, user, and technology requirements, with a focus on maximizing reuse of existing technology.

4. Identify the advantages and challenges of different environments (internal, cloud-based, hybrid) and make the decision about hosting considering the identified items in light of the user needs and other relevant parameters such as cost.

5. Document an assessment of the existing resources that can be applied along with a statement describing the approach to filling the gaps in capability that must be filled.

Play Key Questions

1. What primary tasks are the users trying to accomplish?

2. What are the user requirements that support role-based information sharing and safeguarding?

3. What are the systems and technologies already in place that can be built on to create the sharing environment?

4. What are the capabilities that will developed or reused?

5. What technologies are required to meet the user needs?

6. What are the pros and cons of the technology approach? How does this impact the buy versus build decisions for hosting (i.e., software as a service, cloud storage)?

7. Are there legacy systems that can be reconstituted to better share and safeguard information and meet identified user needs?

8. What specific safeguarding measures will be employed?

9. How does the IS&S Environment’s design visually relate to other government services?